Today, Time.com presents a slideshow titled "The Dirty Dozen: Who to Blame for the Oil Spill." Time.com claims that "There's no shortage of folks to blame for the spill." Unfortunately for them, there is a "shortage" of logic employed in their rationale for ranking President Obama eighth on the list. Their explanation -- in its entirety -- is:

His Administration has now begun strengthening federal oversight of offshore drilling, but the President also proposed opening vast new tracts for such production shortly before Deepwater Horizon exploded.

If someone has a plausible argument for why Obama proposing an expansion of offshore drilling on March 31 makes him at fault for an oil spill that began on April 20, I'd really like to hear it. The Deepwater Horizon rig was "placed into service" in 2001 and finished drilling the well in question in September 2009. Unless Obama's announcement triggered weeks of drunken partying on the rig which caused its destruction (somewhat unlikely), Time's commentary doesn't really hold water.

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MattGertz
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Matt Gertz is Research Director at Media Matters. A veteran of the organization, he has written extensively on media coverage of gun violence, voting rights, GLBT issues, and elections, and on media ethics. He holds a B.A. in political science from Columbia University.

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